Start of Something Good
by TheVioletContradiction
Summary: This is a quick look at early moments in their relationships, from the POV of the Cullen boys. This goes well with the lyrics to Start of Something Good by Chris Daughtry (hence, the title. I know, I'm so creative, lol). Rated T because I'm new at this and I figure better safe than sorry. Reviews are fantabulous, just sayin' ;)
1. Jasper

**Disclaimer: I am not Stephanie Meyer and I will not magically turn into Stephanie Meyer during the course of this story. All credit belongs to her. This disclaimer applies to all four chapters of this fanfiction.**

**A/N: Hello! Sorry, I know that you want to get on with the story, but hear me out real quick. This was originally a songfic. I was listening to 'Start of Something Good' by Chris Daughtry and I realized that it fit well with the different POVs. The first verse and chorus was Jasper, the second verse and chorus was Emmett, the little bridge thing was Carlisle, and the rest was Edward. I had the lyrics in there, but a helpful reviewer pointed out that apparently it's against fanfiction rules to post lyrics in your work. I did not know this, but now it is fixed. If you want to get the full impact of this story (if you're even still reading this author's note, which has gone on longer then I intended, but whatever) go google the lyrics.**

**Enjoy!**

**Jasper POV:**

_I shouldn't be doing this. I_ really _shouldn't be doing this_. The tiny portion of my brain that still remembered the fear – the horror – that I caused every time I took another life was screaming at me. Somehow, I couldn't quite make the other 95% or so care. I stood staring blankly at the cheerful sign in front of me – "Welcome to Philadelphia! Population 2,071,605." Welcome. The thought would have been laughable in a happier time. I was very sure that the good citizens of Philadelphia would not be welcoming if they knew what I was craving at that very moment. The ghost of a smirk flitted its bitter way across my face, disappearing almost as quickly as it had come – less than a tenth of a second. Or had I just imagined it? It didn't matter. Nothing did. Nothing except the flames, ripping and clawing at the back of my throat, begging to be doused, constantly tormenting me with their whiny, nagging little voices. _Feed me Jasper, feed me! Give me blood Jasper! We're not going to shut up Jasper!_

_Okay, seriously Whitlock? Voices from your throat?_ GET A GRIP MAJOR!_ This is the reason you left Peter and Charlotte, so that you could get a handle on this sort of thing! Can vampires go insane? _

I grasped at that thought, trying desperately to hold on to the one reasonable thing that had passed through my head for the past….I couldn't even remember. Well, it was half-reasonable anyway. I'd take it._ Could_ vampires go mad? I thought that I might.

_Might? You already have, major. You're a mess._

Great. Now I was lecturing myself. I must be hungrier than I'd thought. I needed to hunt.

Instantly, the burn in my throat turned from uncomfortable simmer to blazing inferno. Every muscle strained towards the bustling town just ahead of me. It was _so close! _Just a few steps away! I could feed again, my throat would be silenced, I wouldn't be taunted by the memory of the sweet, pulsing blood, pulling me towards it, tempting me with its sweet, self-imposed taboo with every breath I took.

_NO!_

I blinked in surprise; without even thinking about it I had moved towards the city. I was close enough now that I could touch the outermost buildings if I were of mind to.

_NO YOU IDIOT! NO HUNTING! DO YOU NOT REMEMBER THE LAST TIME!?_

I was screaming at myself, trying to pull myself back, trying to pound some reason into my own thick skull.

_This will kill you, Whitlock. Maybe not physically, but you will die on the inside with every mouthful. You think you can handle that?! The fear? The horror – horror at what you are, what you're doing? The desperation – desperation to get away, to get home, to get to their families? The panic – sheer panic at the fact that they'll never be able to?_

_What about the acceptance?_

_Whatabout the fact that they know that they are dying? _

_Because of you_

_Because of me._

_Always because of me._

I felt like retching. I wanted to back off, before I done the unforgivable and added one more body to the missing persons list, to one more family waiting for someone who would never come back home. I wanted to make my legs move, to make them run in the opposite direction. I wanted to find somewhere safe, to find somewhere far, far past the reaches of human civilization.

But I couldn't.

I needed to feed.

I shoved the reasonable part of me – my conscience, you might say – back into the farthest possible reaches of my mind as I slowly felt the soldier in me step up to the plate. The monster in me rejoiced. Instantly, I straightened up, adjusting my coat to hide the worst of the tears and stains. Stepping confidently onto the street - confidence was the key to lying after all - I let my gaze wander over the various people surrounding me. Which one would be the least likely to be missed? Even as I shuddered at the thought of choosing a life that I deemed least important, the larger part of my consciousness was scanning out escape routes on the off chance that I would fail - that I would be noticed.

All of a sudden the clouds that had been hovering all day broke, sending a torrential downpour sweeping through the streets of Philadelphia.

_Great._ Just what I needed. Note the sarcasm.

I sighed as the puny humans surrounding me started darting for cover in various restaurants, businesses, and shops around us. I could just stay outside - I didn't mind the rain, I actually enjoyed it - but that would be too conspicuous. I glanced around for the nearest building with the least amount of people in it. My eyes were dark; this was a mixed blessing. They were dark enough that I could pass undetected through the humans, but it also meant that I was thirsty. _Very_ thirsty.

_Well, you already knew that, didn't you?_

I spotted a dilapidated diner on my right that seemed like it would be the best place. It was the middle of the afternoon, so I would have missed the afternoon rush. Besides, how many people would want to hang around in _that_ place for any longer than necessary? It looked like the slightest breeze would knock it over.

Holding my breath, I stepped into the diner. _Crap, there's more people than I'd thought._ A family sat in a booth directly to my left, the mother arguing with her son over the nutritional value of a milkshake. A rowdy group of teenagers was at the pub table by the window laughing over some shared experience. A busboy chatted with a waitress, complaining about the chef cleaning the friers in the kitchen.

And sitting by herself at the bar, holding a completely unnecessary mug of coffee, was the loveliest vampire I had set eyes on in my entire life.

She was short, I could tell even though she was sitting down, with short hair sticking out of her hair in chaotically controlled spikes. Her clothes were stylish, to the best of my knowledge. I didn't really pay attention to women's fashion - as soon as I'd figure out what was in style, it would change - but the clothes she wore suited her, somehow.

_Seriously, Whitlock? Women's fashion? SHE IS A VAMPIRE. VAMPIRES KILL OTHER VAMPIRES IN THEIR TERRITORIES! Didn't ANY of your time with Maria leave ANY of an impression on you?! GET OUT OF HERE NOW BEFORE SHE ATTACKS AND YOU HAVE TO KILL HER TOO!_

But the emotions coming off of her pounded into my being.

Excitement.

Joy.

Security.

Love.

Radiating off of her in waves, stronger than I had ever felt before in any of the one hundred and four years of existence.

In the tenth of a second it had taken me to process all of this, she had set a few bills on the counter, pulled her purse onto her arm, and swung around to face me. Hopping off the stool, she danced gracefully towards me as I stood in indecision. To leave or to stay? Then she spoke:

"You've kept me waiting a long time."

I felt shame. I had kept this lovely creature waiting? (I didn't remember ever meeting this lovely creature, nor did I have any clue who this lovely creature was, but that was irrelevant.) My Ma would be scandalized if she were alive to see this. As it was, she was probably turning in her grave.

"I'm sorry, ma'am."

It had been so long since I had even attempted chivalry that the words, rusty from years of going unused, surprised me as they left my mouth.

Her laughter floated up to my ears, pealing like a thousand little bells, as she looked up at me (she really was very short) and held out her hand.

I gazed at her smiling face and absorbed her wave of her excitement as her happiness spiked. I glanced down in surprise. Oh, look; I had taken her hand.

_ARE YOU CRAZY! WHAT ABOUT MARIA? WHAT ABOUT ALL THE NEWBORNS? WHAT ABOUT THE DEPRESSION THE DEATH? WHAT ABOUT THE SCARS?_

As she tugged me out the door, an almost foreign emotion welled up within me until none of the rest mattered anymore.

Hope.

**A/N: Hi again. So, this was origianally a oneshot because I had the lyrics in it and I didn't want to split it up, even though it kinda felt too long. Now that I took the lyrics out (see the A/N at the top), it was bothering me. So now it's split into the different POVs.**

**Check out my other stories!**

**If you review for me, I consider it common courtesy to review back.**


	2. Emmett

**My disclaimer from the last chapter still applies.**

**Emmett POV:**

"Rose?" Carefully, my eyes never leaving her face, I stood up from where I had fallen - well, been pushed, really - on the floor. I watched, saddened, as she backed up from me, pulling as far as she could into the corner of the room. _Sheesh, I didn't think I was _that_ bad of a kisser. _But as I watch her sink down, curling herself into as tight of a ball as she can manage, I know it goes deeper than that.

I've always been a hunter. I still have memories - fuzzy memories, true, but memories all the same - of my Pa demonstrating various trapping techniques while my three-year old self looked on in awe. Now that I'm a vampire, all of my senses have gotten stronger, more fine tuned, turning me into the world's most deadly predator. I've seen the look in animals' eyes when they know they're going to die. They get this wild look, start breathing heavy, and almost always try to run. Even when they don't know who I am or what's going on, they run with their legs trembling, with their lungs gasping for breath.

Death spurs panic in it's purest form. I cause death.

I know panic when I see it.

Staring across the room at the lovely vampire shaking in the corner - her eyes wild, her arms crossed over herself as if she could shield herself from everything that might attempt to hurt her, her head shaking in denial - I realize that I'm going to have to take this very carefully.

Slowly, I get my feet under me and begin to stand. Instantly, her eyes snap up to mine and I freeze.

Panic.

Slowly, deliberately, I raise my hand in a universal gesture of surrender and rearrange myself so that I'm sitting across from her. Her eyes soften an almost unnoticeable amount, but she does not relax in the slightest. Her panic hasn't gone, it has merely transformed itself into fear. Fear of what? I can only assume that it's fear of me. A shard of pain worms its way through my heart.

From the first moment I saw her, I have been completely and irrevocably in love. As the bear cut me to shreds, I was sure that I was going to die, probably slowly and torturously, I had given up for the first time in my life. I accepted my death as pure, hard fact. Regrettable, yes. Worth fighting? No.

And then I saw her face.

And my whole world flipped upside-down.

I thought she was an angel. At first, all I could focus on was her face. Then I realized that this angel was speaking to me. I figured I'd better pay attention.

_"Hang on, please hang on. Just for a little while, just until I can reach Carlisle. Please, please, just _don't die."

An angel shouldn't sound so desperate; it was wrong. I was racking my brain to figure out what I could do to stop her pain. Well, she wanted me to hang on. So I did.

Throughout the journey back to Carlisle, throughout the agony of my transformation, throughout the confusion, throughout the pain, I held on.

Because what my angel wants, my angel gets.

When the burning was finally over, I opened my eyes and saw my angel again, only this time, I could see everything. My senses were at least ten times better than they had been. I was told that I was a vampire and that I would have to drink blood now. I was told that I would never age. I was told that I could never see my family again.

It didn't really bother me, though. I mean, if my angel was a vampire, then how bad could it be?

As time passed and we got to know each other and actually talk to each other, I just kept falling more and more in love. I'd thought that she had started to feel the same. So when the opportunity came along for me to kiss her today, when all the others were out hunting and we were watching t.v. together on the couch, I didn't even think. I just kissed.

Apparently she did not feel the same way after all.

Which led to me on the floor, watching the love of my life having a panic attack across the room from me.

I ached to hold her, to take away whatever pain she was experiencing. But that would only hurt her. As it was, her eyes darted nervously towards me whenever I so much as shifted my weight. But I couldn't just do nothing.

After a long, tense minute of silence, I decided to speak up. I make sure to keep my voice as gentle and nonthreatening as possible.

"I'm sorry."

Disbelief flashed across her face, quickly followed by confusion warring with anger.

"_You're_ sorry?!" Her incredulous voice finally made itself known.

I eyed her carefully. I was no expert on emotions, but it looked to me like anger was winning the war to be the dominant emotion on her face.

"Yes. That was out of line. I shouldn't have kissed you, no matter how much I wanted - still want - to. I..." here my voice broke a little bit. I winced.

_Man up, Emmett. _

"I love you Rosalie. I have since the first moment I saw your face. I had hoped..." the pain dug a little deeper into my heart. "...that you felt the same. I shouldn't have assumed and I'm sorry."

Dang. I think that was the most articulate I have been in my entire life. I hoped she appreciated it. Maybe I would still be allowed to be near her at least.

"Let me get this straight." Crap, anger was definitely winning out. "I selfishly condemn you to this life, I encourage your love, when I'm not even sure if I'm capable of loving you back, I practically kick the others out so I can have alone time with you, even though none of them actually wanted or needed to hunt, and then _I _spazz out over a simple kiss, and _YOU _are sorry?!"

Apparently, I had upset her. Huh. And here I'd always thought that girls liked it when you admitted you were wrong and apologized. I pondered what to say for a tenth of a second or so. Better to keep it simple.

"Yes?" It came out like a question.

Her mouth dropped for a second as she stared at me incredulously. Then, she snapped it back into place and slowly started to shake her head back and forth.

I shifted to move closer to her, forgetting momentarily that that was a bad idea. Instantly she curled farther into herself, her eyes trained on my every movement. I carefully shifted back to where I was before. She looked vaguely relieved.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Rose."

The quiet words, which surprised me even as they came out of my mouth, seemed to spark something in her. She glanced at me with tired, resigned eyes.

"No." she whispered. "No, not intentionally anyway." She sighed. "I haven't been entirely fair to you, Emmett. I let you fall in love with me, I encouraged it even. But I didn't let you really see me, really _know_ me. Not really. I am entirely too selfish to be good for you." Her mouth twisted into a slightly bitter smile as she glanced up at me. "I think it's about time you heard my story."

"Your story?" I asked, a bit stupidly, yes, because she had just said that, but this was huge. She had never discussed her past with me, never even come close. All I knew was that she was from New York and that her past was a touchy subject.

She faintly smiled. "Yes, my story." Her lower lip caught between her teeth. "It's just...I don't know where to start. I've never told anyone. Edward, of course, knows, and he was good enough to explain to Carlisle and Esme tactfully. Well," she rolled her eyes, "as tactfully as Edward can anyway..." her voice trailed off as she gave me a worried look. I thought for a second.

"Well, if I were you," I started hesitantly, "I would just...start to talk."

She glanced up at me, surprised. And then she started to talk. And I listened.

And as I listened, I got angrier and angrier. How could he? How could that despicable excuse for a human being do that to my Rose? Didn't he know that an angel deserves to be treated better than that? Didn't he realize what he had?

We sat there, Rosalie talking, me listening, for hours. Sometimes, she would just stop and stare off into the distance, lost in her memories. I let her struggle through it. And then I brought her back to me. I would not let my angel stay lost for long. She would smile a little sheepishly and continue on. She talked about her transformation. She talked about finding me.

"I just...I couldn't give you up. I couldn't. You looked so like little Henry, I could see your dimples, even while you were grimacing in pain. I knew that if I let that bear have his way with you, then you would die. And I couldn't let that happen. I knew that I had to have you with me."

"Do you love me?" It was the only time I interrupted her story. I knew that this was about her right now, but I needed to know.

She looked at me helplessly. "I-I don't know! It's so frustrating. I'm not capable of love, not anymore, not after what Royce did to me. But at the same time...at the same time I can't let you go." I nodded thoughtfully.

Eventually, she reached the end of her story. "You see, Emmett? I'm no angel. I'm a selfish, self-absorbed, vain creature who was too prideful to admit her own downfall. I played it over and over again in my mind. I will never forget it. I suppose it made me bitter." Here she laughed with no amusement in her tone. "But really...I'm broken, Emmett. I'm damaged goods. And I don't think anyone can ever fix me." She fell silent, taking a deep breath before glancing up at me to gauge my reaction. I thought for a moment.

"But you saved me anyway."

That was not what she had been expecting.

"Pardon?"

"May I...?" I indicated that I wanted to come closer to her and, slowly, she nodded. I carefully crawled over to where she was and - _finally_ - held her close.

"You saved me anyway. You say that you're incapable of love. I don't think that's true. Because you wanted it enough to try. You wanted _me_ enough to try, enough that you didn't let that bear eat me, enough that you ran hundreds of miles with me bleeding in your arms without giving in and sucking all my blood yourself. You wouldn't have done that if you weren't passed all hope."

She started shaking her head in denial half-way through my answer.

"Emmett I'm _broken_. Weren't you listening? I can never give you all of myself because all of me is in little tiny pieces scattered who knows where."

"So let me fix you. Just because one disgrace of a human being treated you like you and your feelings weren't worthy of consideration doesn't make you any less of a woman Rose. Let me in, let me love you. Trust me, babe, I've had some ups and downs in my life. But I know that when life starts to work itself out, you need to let it. I will wait however long it takes for you to be comfortable Rosalie. I will not leave you, I don't care how badly you think of yourself."

She stared at me for a long moment, and if she had been human, then I'm sure tears would be streaming down her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a half-strangled "why?"

I didn't miss a beat.

"Because you're worth it, angel."

**A/N: Please review.**


	3. Carlisle

**Still not Stephaine Meyer.**

**Carlisle POV:**

I stared at the woman before me as she let out another soul wrenching scream. She was in _agony._ What had I done? Was I right to do it? Was I right to sentence her to this existance when she so clearly wanted to die?

"PLEASE, PLEASE, JUST KILL ME, MAKE IT STOP, MAKE THE BURNING STOP!" She begged me as I sat there helplessly.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, you'll be alright, I promise, I'll look after you, it will stop soon." As I kept up my constant stream of apologies, I couldn't help but wonder if I had been justified in my actions. I _hated_ it when people were in pain and I couldn't do anything about it. The logical side of me told me that I had saved her from death, but I wondered if I had condemned her to something infinitely worse: an eternity of wishing for death.

But what had spurred her to wish for death in the first place?

What had prompted this beautiful, charismatic, selfless woman to jump off of a cliff?

I wondered about this woman, this Esme Ann Platt. I could distinctly remember when we had first met nearly a decade ago. She had been so energetic, so full of life, arguing with her mother about the properness of tree climbing. The ghost of a smile flitted across my lips as I remembered.

_"Doctor Cullen, we need you in the lobby immediately! There's been an accident, a young girl has come in with a broken leg." The tone of the message, which should have been urgent, was somehow less than effective as the nurse batted her eyes and used what I assumed she thought of as a 'sultry' voice._

_"Thank you, nurse, I shall attend to it at once." Privately, I rolled my eyes. It really wasn't fair of me - as a vampire, I was designed to be extremely attractive to my prey - but I couldn't help but be annoyed with the shallow attempts to seduce me. After a couple of centuries, there was nothing that I hadn't already seen, that hadn't already been attempted by similar, vapid women who knew nothing of who I really was. _

_As I walked quickly towards the lobby, making sure to keep my pace human-like, I heard the everyday sounds of the hospital swirl around me._

_"...Right this way, ma'am, Jimmy is feeling..."_

_"...Please relax, sir, this won't..."_

_"...Well, then, I told her..."_

_"...Looks like a torn ligament..."_

_"...Esme Ann Platt! I cannot believe that you would do such a thing! It is _highly _improper..."_

_At this moment, I rounded the corner into the lobby and found myself facing a slightly amused father, holding a petulant looking teenage girl in his arms while she was being scolded by her very irritated mother. The girl's leg was bent at an odd angle. Probably a compound fracture. The girl would recover if she stayed off of it long enough. The girl noticed my arrival, her face brightening for some unknown reason. That was odd. She must be in a lot of pain. Why would she be happy? She poked her father's arm, subtly pointing towards me._

_"Hello, doctor." He smoothly cut off his wife's scolding. _

_"Good afternoon," I replied, "my name is Carlisle Cullen. I take it that this is Miss Platt with the broken leg?" I raised my voice at the end as if it were a question - albeit a question in a professional, calming tone that implied that I knew what I was doing - when in reality I already knew that I was right. It didn't matter. Humans felt more comfortable when I expressed doubt._

_"Yes, this is..."_

_"Are you my doctor?" the girl cut in impatiently._

_"Esme!" her mother's shocked hiss was meant for her ears only. Unfortunately for her, I had super hearing._

_"That's quite all right, Mrs. Platt." I cut in calmly. Honestly, what was wrong with the girl asking a few questions? It was her leg. "Actually, Mr. Platt, if I could have you bring...Esme, is it?" I addressed my question towards her._

_She nodded, slightly subdued by her mother's warning._

_"If you could bring her to the other room so that I could examine her, that would be most helpful." _

_"Of course, doctor."_

_"Ma'am, if I could have you wait here..."_

_"Excuse me?! That's my little girl that you have there." There was danger lurking under her forcibly polite tone. "She is injured and I am _not_ letting her out of my sight."_

_"I'm afraid that it's hospital policy, ma'am. Only one person is allowed in while the doctor is examining the patient. As you cannot carry her to my examining room, and I cannot carry a lady to whom I am not married with a clear conscience, I'm afraid that you'll just have to wait._

_"I'll be there, Liz." Her husband spoke quietly, with the air of having calmed his wife on many a former occasion._

_"Well." She huffed. "If you think that it would be alright, dear, then I suppose..."_

_I did not give her time to change her mind. I had patients waiting after Miss Platt. "Wonderful. This way, sir."_

_I led the way down the hall, snagging the patient charts from the nurse who had been flirting with me earlier on my way. As Esme's father got her settled, I took a quick look at her forms. This, of course, took me much less time than it would have taken a human doctor, and by the time he pulled away I was standing calmly in the corner of the room waiting._

_"Well, let's take a look at this, then." Meaningless chatter, but it put humans at ease. I didn't like being the cause of their discomfort and, though it was often annoying, I did my best to do anything I could to relax them._

_"Hmm...your x-rays came back." I put them up on the board, not that I needed a second look._

_"What do they mean?" I glanced at her, startled. Usually, the young women that I got were too focused on being 'proper' to ask questions._

_"They mean that you have a compound fracture on your left tibia. See the break here?" I pointed it out to her. _

_"So, what's going to happen?" She sounded honestly curious. I smiled. Maybe there would be something interesting to tell Edward tonight after all._

_"I'm going to put it in a cast." I informed her. "You're going to have to stay off of it for the next month or two, but it should heal quite nicely."_

_"What happens if I put my weight on it?"_

_And so we continued to talk. As I put her cast on, I explained the entire procedure to her in detail. I told her what she would have to do to make it heal faster, and what would definitley prolong it. _

_I asked her opinion on the weather, which gradually led to opinions on politics, sports, and life in general. She was so intelligent. Her voice made the room light up, the people happier, even the potted plant on the windowsill seemed to stand straighter. She was so bright and full of life. I wondered how her leg had ended up broken. Eventually, the curiosity got the better of me and I asked. _

_"This is some break. I'll bet that there's an interesting story behind it." _

_She looked a little sheepish. "Yeah..."_

_I grinned. "What happened?"_

_She sighed in psuedo melodrama. "I was on my way back from the grocer's, where I'd gone to pick up some carrots for dinner, and I passed this apple orchard. The apples just looked so ripe and sweet. They were in perfect condition, the type that make your mouth water just by looking at them, you know?" She waited for my nod before continuing. "Well, my little sister _loves _apples and I saw one at the very top of the nearest tree that was the best in the whole orchard, I'm sure of it. And I just _had_ to have it for her. So, I climbed the tree and got it. Except that the branches at the top weren't as strong as they looked. So now I'm stuck inside for the next two months." Her face unconsciously slipped into a pout._

_I laughed gently. "I hope your sister apreciates it. Well, Mr. Platt, it seems as though I'm done with your daughter. I reccomend lots of bedrest. Do not let her walk on it for the first month or so under any circumstances. Fresh air would do her good though. Perhaps you can find some chores for her to do outside, sitting down? And above all," I turned back to her teasingly, "no climbing any more apple trees."_

_She grinned. "Yes, Doctor Cullen."_

_I left them then, letting her father pick her up and carry her out to her mother, who was now anxiously pacing the lobby, as I signed the release forms. I looked after her as she left, smiling as she waved goodbye. Then I got back to work._

Her scream of pain pulled me from my memories. I winced and hurried to try my best to reassure her. I suppose that I had never really gotten her out of my mind. Rarely had I seen anyone so happy, she seemed to just exude life into whatever room she was in. And she was generous. I wasn't lying when I told her that I hoped her sister apreciated her efforts.

So, when I saw her lying in the hospital morgue, her body mutilated by her attempted suicide, blood trickling down her temple in a trail to her frowning mouth, I couldn't just let her go. Not when I could do something about it. Not when I had the power to save her.

I glanced down as her heartbeat sped up, sighing in relief. "It's almost over, Esme. I promise, the pain will go away soon."

Her fingers twitched in response. It was the first response I had gotten from my words. I couldn't help but think of what her response would be when I told her that she was a vampire.

Her heart was pounding now, in a race with itself that it would inevitably lose.

Did I do the right thing? Will she ever be able to forgive me if I chose wrong?

I didn't know.

A part of me was okay with that; she always had managed to surprise me. I just hoped that she would give me a chance.

Her heart thumped one final time.

I braced myself.

Her eyes fluttered open.

"Doctor Cullen?"


	4. Edward

**And I would like to reiterate my non-Stephanieness.**

**Edward POV:**

"First day of school!" Alice was always cheerful on the first day. I didn't know _why. _It's not like anything interesting ever happened at school. Why should this new school be any different? Her cheerfulness as she darted to and fro, making sure everyone was dressed to perfection, annoyed me. Favorite sister or no, _nobody_ should be that happy this early in the morning.

I supposed that I was being harsh. There were some days when it was harder than others to live with three sets of perfectly matched lovers. This was one of them. I grimaced out the window as I stood impatiently waiting to get in the car.

"Be careful, drive safe. Have a good day." Esme was usually nearly as excited as Alice.

Their enthusiasm was beyond my comprehension. It wasn't like this tiny school in this tiny town - Forks, was it? - would be any different than the last hundred or so. The days would be boring, the classes would be boring, the people would be boring. If I found a single person who managed to surprise me, then it would be a miracle.

We left in a chorus of "Yes, Mom."

As I climbed into the driver's seat, I watched my family laughing and joking around me. Emmett was doing his best to cheer up Rosalie, who hated first days almost as much as I did, smiling and cracking lame jokes. She rolled her eyes, but a faint smile was flitting across her face, despite her best efforts to prevent it. Alice was chattering excitedly at Japser, who smiled at her indulgently. No matter what she was talking about, he always paid attention. I glanced in my rearview mirror at the people who I had come to consider as my parents. Carlisle had his arm slung comfortingly around Esme's shoulders. He knew that she always got nervous, letting us out of her sight for eight hours in a new town at a new school. She smiled up at him, reaching to sweetly kiss his cheek.

A bittersweet pain wormed into my heart. Would I _ever_ have a love like that? Probably not.

As I pulled out of our drive, I sighed and prepared myself for another day of monotony.

**A/N Hi everyone! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story. Reviews are fantastic, hint hint. Haha if you liked it tell me why. If you didn't like it, tell me why. Please be nice! Just for the record, the underlined portion of Edward's POV is a direct quote from Stephanie Meyer's partial draft of Midnight Sun, which I got from where she released it on her website (stephanie () meyer () .com (obviously take out the parentheses and spaces)). I just think that it is a fantastic quote :)**


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